r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	cuteablepine29
Comment	Glasgow Uni student here with some insights into why there's so many private student halls yet still a student housing crisis and reasons as to why this year is so bad: generally, over the past few years, private halls have been getting fully booked around 9 months pior to uni starting. from what i can tell this is mostly from well organised international students whose families have the means to pay the huge rents and who understand that they will be filled with mostly internationals like themselves. its clearly an attractive offer for them, giving them all the mod cons and the certianty of having a place well before moving. the fact that Glasgow and Strathclyde's admission of international students has increased basically in line with these halls being built has meant that they are able to comtinually reach capacity - especially thanks to the many deferred from 2020/21 entries due to covid. conversely, most uk nationals (myself and friends included) cannot really afford the rents of private halls and wouldn't want to book one 9 months in advance as one would assume that 9 months would be long enough to find a place. and yes, generally if you were able to be in glasgow to flat hunt at around April and May (when many flats were being vacated by grads) then you'd have a place - I personally havent moved home since leaving halls as I've been holding onto flats and working during summer to pay for them. the problem this year, crucially, is that Glasgow Uni's accomodation guarantee collapsed and so there has been a huge influx of people who were anticipating getting halls and now have to instead find a place at short-notice, often when they are not even in the country. to a lesser extent, last year being a particularly large student influx has also meant that the usual private housing supply has been pressed more than usual, making it harder to find a flat in the first place and leaving more returning students to flat-hunt remotely over the summer - a time when the supply always tends to dry up and demand skyrockets due to other factors like admissions through clearning, students retuening from international exchange etc. everyone i know who is a uk nat and who has struggled with getting a flat as term starts has generally left it until summer to sort out, only to find the demand skyrocketing and supply dwindling - rent bidding is increasingly commom at this time of year that should explain, on an individual level, how this has happened. on a macro level, clearly, it is a shortage of housing which is an extension of the national housing crisis - which itself is already worst in large cities with growing professional workforces i.e. university cities.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/xkmfo5/currently_sleeping_on_the_floor/ipgsdlj/
Created	Thu 22nd Sep 2022 2:31pm
Status	normal ()

Glasgow Uni student here with some insights into why there's so many private student halls yet still a student housing crisis and reasons as to why this year is so bad:

generally, over the past few years, private halls have been getting fully booked around 9 months pior to uni starting. from what i can tell this is mostly from well organised international students whose families have the means to pay the huge rents and who understand that they will be filled with mostly internationals like themselves. its clearly an attractive offer for them, giving them all the mod cons and the certianty of having a place well before moving. the fact that Glasgow and Strathclyde's admission of international students has increased basically in line with these halls being built has meant that they are able to comtinually reach capacity - especially thanks to the many deferred from 2020/21 entries due to covid.

conversely, most uk nationals (myself and friends included) cannot really afford the rents of private halls and wouldn't want to book one 9 months in advance as one would assume that 9 months would be long enough to find a place. and yes, generally if you were able to be in glasgow to flat hunt at around April and May (when many flats were being vacated by grads) then you'd have a place - I personally havent moved home since leaving halls as I've been holding onto flats and working during summer to pay for them.

the problem this year, crucially, is that Glasgow Uni's accomodation guarantee collapsed and so there has been a huge influx of people who were anticipating getting halls and now have to instead find a place at short-notice, often when they are not even in the country.

to a lesser extent, last year being a particularly large student influx has also meant that the usual private housing supply has been pressed more than usual, making it harder to find a flat in the first place and leaving more returning students to flat-hunt remotely over the summer - a time when the supply always tends to dry up and demand skyrockets due to other factors like admissions through clearning, students retuening from international exchange etc. everyone i know who is a uk nat and who has struggled with getting a flat as term starts has generally left it until summer to sort out, only to find the demand skyrocketing and supply dwindling - rent bidding is increasingly commom at this time of year

that should explain, on an individual level, how this has happened. on a macro level, clearly, it is a shortage of housing which is an extension of the national housing crisis - which itself is already worst in large cities with growing professional workforces i.e. university cities.